A closer look at the General Motors bailout

The Treasury Department plans to sell its remaining stake in General Motors over the next 15 months, allowing the automaker to shed the stigma of being partly owned by the U.S. government.

GM agreed to buy 200 million shares of its stock from the government for $5.5 billion. The government agreed to sell its remaining 300 million shares by early 2014.

The government got the stock back in 2009 in exchange for a $49.5 billion bailout designed to save the company, which was at risk of running out of money. Once the buyback is complete, the Treasury will have recovered more than half of the bailout funds. But taxpayers are still are likely to lose billions of dollars.

A look at some of the major steps taken by GM and the government:

— April 2010: GM repays $6.7 billion in loans to the government. GM pays $800 million in dividends and interest over time.

— November 2010: Government gets $13.5 billion from GM initial public stock offering.

— December 2010: GM buys $2.1 billion of its preferred stock from the government.

— December 2012: GM and Treasury officials announce deal to end government stake in the company.